View source for Andrei Tarkovsky

{{Short description|Soviet filmmaker (1932–1986)}}
{{Redirect|Tarkovsky|the surname, as well as other people with this name|Tarkovsky (surname)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{CS1 config|mode=cs1}}
{{Infobox person
| image              = Andrei tarkovsky stamp russia 2007.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Tarkovsky on a Russian stamp
| native_name        = {{nobold|Андрей Тарковский}}
| native_name_lang   = ru
| birth_name         = Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1932|4|4}}
| birth_place        = [[Zavrazhye, Kadyysky District, Kostroma Oblast|Zavrazhye]], [[Ivanovo Oblast]]<!--now Kostroma Oblast, but the village apparently belonged to Ivanovo at the time-->, [[Russian SFSR]], Soviet Union
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1986|12|29|1932|4|4}}
| death_place        = Paris, France
| resting_place      = [[Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery]], Paris, France
| nationality        = 
| alma_mater         = [[All-Union State Institute of Cinematography]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Film director|screenwriter|film theorist}}
| years_active       = 1958–1986
| notable_works      = [[Works by Andrei Tarkovsky|Full list]]
| spouse             = {{Plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Irma Raush]]|1957|1970|reason=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|[[Larisa Tarkovskaya|Larisa Kizilova]]|1970}}
}}
| father             = [[Arseny Tarkovsky]]
| relatives         = [[Marina Tarkovskaya]] (sister)
| awards             = [[List of awards won by Andrei Tarkovsky|List]]
}}

'''Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky''' ({{langx|ru|Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский}}, {{IPA|ru|ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj|pron|Pronunciation ru андрей тарковский.ogg}};<ref>{{Cite web|language=en|url=https://forvo.com/word/%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9/#ru|title=How to pronounce Андрей Тарковский
|website=forvo.com}}</ref> 4 April 1932<ref>{{cite web| url = https://bigenc.ru/c/tarkovskii-andrei-arsen-evich-279216/?v=7226008| author = [[Andrei Plakhov|Андрей Степанович Плахов]] | title = Тарковский, Андрей Арсеньевич| access-date = April 3, 2024| publication-date = May 11, 2023 }} // ''[[Great Russian Encyclopedia|Большая российская энциклопедия]]''. Том 31. [[Москва]], 2016, с. 674.</ref> – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet{{efn|Tarkovsky was born in the [[Russian SFSR]], with his mother being from the {{ill|Dubasov family|ru|Дубасовы}} of [[Russian nobility]], and with mixed Polish, Romanian and Russian ancestry on his paternal side; his nationality remained Soviet throughout his life, even during his last years in exile.}} film director and screenwriter.<!--Do NOT change without new consensus, see [[Talk:Andrei Tarkovsky#Tarkovsky a Russian film director and screenwriter?]].--><ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema|author=Peter Rollberg|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2009|place=US|isbn=978-0-8108-6072-8|pages=685–690}}</ref> He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. [[Works by Andrei Tarkovsky|His films]] explore spiritual and [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] themes and are known for their [[Slow cinema|slow pacing and long takes]], dreamlike visual imagery and preoccupation with nature and memory.<ref name=Sight>{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Nick |title=The Tarkovsky Legacy |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/deep-focus/tarkovsky-legacy |website=[[Sight & Sound]] |date=8 May 2019 |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Petric |first1=Vlada |title=Tarkovsky's Dream Imagery |journal=Film Quarterly |date=December 1989 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=28–34 |doi=10.1525/fq.1989.43.2.04a00040}}</ref>

Tarkovsky studied film at the [[All-Union State Institute of Cinematography]] under filmmaker [[Mikhail Romm]] and subsequently directed his first five features in the Soviet Union: ''[[Ivan's Childhood]]'' (1962), ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'' (1966), ''[[Solaris (1972 film)|Solaris]]'' (1972), ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]'' (1975), and ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'' (1979). After years of creative conflict with [[State Committee for Cinematography|state film authorities]], he left the country in 1979 and made his final two films—''[[Nostalghia]]'' (1983) and ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]'' (1986)—abroad. In 1986, he published ''[[Sculpting in Time]]'', a book about cinema and art. He died later that year of cancer, a condition possibly caused by the toxic locations used in the filming of ''Stalker''.<ref name="SharunQuote">{{Citation |last=Tyrkin |first=Stas |title=In Stalker Tarkovsky foretold Chernobyl |date=2001-03-23 |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Stalker/sharun.html |access-date=2009-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322094135/https://people.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Stalker/sharun.html |publisher=Nostalghia.com |archive-date=2018-03-22}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}

Tarkovsky was the recipient of [[List of awards won by Andrei Tarkovsky|numerous accolades]] throughout his career, including the [[International Federation of Film Critics|FIPRESCI prize]], the [[Prize of the Ecumenical Jury]] and the [[Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)|Grand Prix Spécial du Jury]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in addition to the [[Golden Lion]] at the [[Venice Film Festival]] for his debut film, ''Ivan's Childhood'' as well as the [[BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language|BAFTA Film Award]] for ''The Sacrifice''. In 1990, he was posthumously awarded the Soviet Union's prestigious [[Lenin Prize]]. Three of his films—''Andrei Rublev'', ''Mirror'', and ''Stalker''—featured in ''[[Sight & Sound]]''{{'s}} [[The Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2012#Critics' poll|2012 poll of the 100 greatest films of all time]].<ref name=Bfi1>{{cite web |last1=Gray |first1=Carmen |title=Where to begin with Andrei Tarkovsky |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-andrei-tarkovsky |website=[[British Film Institute]] |date=27 October 2015 |access-date=3 September 2019}}</ref>

==Life and career==
===Childhood and early life===
Andrei Tarkovsky was born in the village of [[Zavrazhye, Kadyysky District, Kostroma Oblast|Zavrazhye]] in the [[Yuryevetsky District]] of the [[Ivanovo Oblast|Ivanovo Industrial Oblast]] (modern-day [[Kadyysky District]] of the [[Kostroma Oblast]], Russia) to the poet and translator [[Arseny Tarkovsky|Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky]], a native of [[Yelysavethrad]] of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian parentage]],<ref name="Skurativsky">{{cite web |last=Skurativsky |first=Vadym |title=Andrei Tarkovsky and Ukraine |url=http://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/skurat_summary.html |website=nostalghia.com |access-date=September 26, 2025}}</ref> and Maria Ivanova Vishnyakova, a graduate of the [[Maxim Gorky Literature Institute]] who later worked as a proofreader; she was born in Moscow in the Dubasov family estate.

Andrei's paternal grandfather Aleksandr Karlovich Tarkovsky (in {{langx|pl|link=no|Aleksander Karol Tarkowski}}) was a [[Polish noblemen|Polish nobleman]] who worked as a bank clerk. His wife Maria Danilovna Rachkovskaya was a [[Romanians|Romanian]] language teacher who arrived from [[Iași]].<ref name='gordon'>{{cite web| url = http://www.tarkovskiy.su/texty/vospominania/MTarkovskaya04.html| title = Marina Tarkovskaya: "My brother enjoyed being a descendant of the Dagestanian princes"}} interview to the {{ill|Gordon Boulevard (newspaper)|uk|Бульвар Гордона|lt=Gordon Boulevard|italic=y}} newspaper at the ''Andrei Tarkovsky'' media archive, 2007 (in Russian).</ref> Andrei's maternal grandmother Vera Nikolayevna Vishnyakova (née Dubasova) belonged to an old Dubasov family of [[Russian nobility]] that traces its history back to the 17th century; among her relatives was Admiral [[Fyodor Dubasov]], a fact she had to conceal during the Soviet days. She was married to Ivan Ivanovich Vishnyakov, a native of the [[Kaluga Governorate]] who studied law at the [[Moscow State University]] and served as a judge in [[Kozelsk]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.itogi.ru/arts-exclus/2012/14/176471.html| title = Filming Eternity| access-date = 17 January 2017| archive-date = 18 January 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170118051501/http://www.itogi.ru/arts-exclus/2012/14/176471.html| url-status = dead}} interview with Tarkovsky's sister Marina Tarkovskaya, ''{{ill|Itogy|ru|Итоги (журнал)}}'' journal, 2 April 2012 (in Russian).</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/ЭСБЕ/Дубасовы| title = Dubasov family}} from the [[Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]], 1890–1907 ([[Wikisource]], in Russian).</ref>

According to the family legend, Tarkovsky's ancestors on his father's side were princes from the [[Shamkhalate of Tarki]], Dagestan, although his sister, [[Marina Tarkovskaya]], who conducted detailed research on their genealogy, called it "a myth, even a prank of sorts," stressing that no document confirms this narrative.<ref name='gordon' />

Tarkovsky spent his childhood in [[Yuryevets, Ivanovo Oblast|Yuryevets]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Marina |last=Sipatova |script-title=ru:Тайна рода Тарковских |work=[[Moskovskij Komsomolets]] |year=2007 |url=http://www.mk.ru/blogs/MK/2007/02/20/culture/92002 |language=ru|access-date=25 November 2007}}</ref> <!--He was described by childhood friends as active and popular, having many friends and being typically in the center of action.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-09-13|title=Andrei Tarkovsky {{!}} people and places|url=https://videocide.com/namebook/andrei-tarkovsky/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921023907/https://videocide.com/namebook/andrei-tarkovsky/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=21 September 2020|access-date=2022-02-18|language=en-US}}</ref>--> His father left the family in 1937, subsequently volunteering for the army in 1941. He returned home in 1943, having been awarded the [[Order of the Red Star]] after being shot in one of his legs (which he would eventually need to have amputated due to gangrene).<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Donatella Baglivo |date=1984 |title=Un poeta nel Cinema: Andreij Tarkovskij|trans-title=Andrei Tarkovsky: A Poet in the Cinema |medium=Documentary}}</ref> Tarkovsky stayed with his mother, moving with her and his sister Marina to Moscow, where she worked as a proofreader at a printing press.

In 1939, Tarkovsky enrolled at the Moscow School No. 554. During the war, the three evacuated to Yuryevets, living with his maternal grandmother. In 1943, the family returned to Moscow. Tarkovsky continued his studies at his old school, where the poet [[Andrei Voznesensky]] was one of his classmates. He studied piano at a music school and attended classes at an art school. The family lived on Shchipok Street in the [[Zamoskvorechye District]] in Moscow. From November 1947 to spring 1948 he was in the hospital with tuberculosis. Many themes of his childhood—the evacuation, his mother and her two children, the withdrawn father, the time in the hospital—feature prominently in his film ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]''.

In his school years, Tarkovsky was a troublemaker and a poor student.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_-vCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Andrei Tarkovsky: The Winding Quest |page=2 |last=Green |first=Peter |publisher=Springer |date=1993 |isbn=978-1349119967}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnTIHKpkbrAC&pg=PA230 |title=The Magical Chorus: A History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn |page=230 |last=Volkov |first=Solomon |publisher=Vintage Books |date=2009 |isbn=978-1400077861}}</ref> He still managed to graduate, and from 1951 to 1952 studied [[Arabic]] at the Oriental Institute in Moscow, a branch of the [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union]]. <!--Although he already spoke some Arabic and was a successful student in his first semesters, -->He did not finish his studies and dropped out to work as a prospector for the Academy of Science Institute for Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold. He participated in a year-long research expedition to the river [[Kureyka]] near [[Turukhansk]] in the [[Krasnoyarsk Krai|Krasnoyarsk Province]]. During this time in the [[taiga]], Tarkovsky decided to study film.

===Film school student===
Upon returning from the research expedition in 1954, Tarkovsky applied at the State Institute of Cinematography ([[Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography|VGIK]]) and was admitted to the film-directing program. He was in the same class as [[Irma Raush]] (Irina) whom he married in April 1957.<ref name=kompravda>{{cite news |first=Anastasia |last=Pleshakova |title=Тарковский был "разрешенным контрреволюционером" |trans-title= Tarkovsky was "a legal сounterrevolutionary" |newspaper=[[Komsomolskaya Pravda]] |date=4 April 2007 |url=http://www.kp.ru/daily/23881/65502/ |access-date=27 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080104174327/http://www.kp.ru/daily/23881/65502/ |archive-date=4 January 2008 |url-status= live}}</ref>

The early [[History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)|Khrushchev era]] offered good opportunities for young film directors. Before 1953, annual film production was low and most films were directed by veteran directors. After 1953, more films were produced, many of them by young directors. The [[Khrushchev Thaw]] relaxed Soviet social restrictions a bit and permitted a limited influx of European and North American literature, films and music. This allowed Tarkovsky to see films of the [[Italian neorealism|Italian neorealists]], [[French New Wave]], and of directors such as [[Akira Kurosawa|Kurosawa]], [[Luis Buñuel|Buñuel]], [[Ingmar Bergman|Bergman]], [[Robert Bresson|Bresson]], [[Andrzej Wajda|Wajda]] (whose film ''[[Ashes and Diamonds (film)|Ashes and Diamonds]]'' influenced Tarkovsky) and [[Kenji Mizoguchi|Mizoguchi]].

Tarkovsky's teacher and mentor was [[Mikhail Romm]], who taught many film students who would later become influential film directors. In 1956, Tarkovsky directed his first student short film, ''[[The Killers (1956 film)|The Killers]]'', from a short story of [[Ernest Hemingway]]. The longer television film ''[[There Will Be No Leave Today]]'' followed in 1959. Both films were a collaboration between the VGIK students. Classmate [[Aleksandr Gordon]], who married Tarkovsky's sister, in particular directed, wrote, edited, and acted in the two films with Tarkovsky.

<!--An important influence on Tarkovsky was the film director [[Grigory Chukhray]], who was teaching at the VGIK. Impressed by the talent of his student, Chukhray offered Tarkovsky a position as assistant director for his film ''Clear Skies''. Tarkovsky initially showed interest but then decided to concentrate on his studies and his own projects.<ref name=kompravda/>-->
During his third year at the VGIK, Tarkovsky met [[Andrei Konchalovsky]]. They found much in common as they liked the same film directors and shared ideas on cinema and films. In 1959, they wrote the script ''Antarctica – Distant Country'', which was later published in the ''[[Moskovskij Komsomolets]]''. Tarkovsky submitted the script to [[Lenfilm]], but it was rejected. They were more successful with the script ''[[The Steamroller and the Violin]]'', which they sold to [[Mosfilm]]. This became Tarkovsky's graduation project, earning him his diploma in 1960 and winning First Prize at the New York Student Film Festival in 1961.

===Film career in the Soviet Union===
Tarkovsky's first feature film was ''[[Ivan's Childhood]]'' in 1962. He had inherited the film from director Eduard Abalov, who had to abort the project. The film earned Tarkovsky international acclaim and won the [[Golden Lion]] award at the [[Venice Film Festival]] in the year 1962. In the same year, on 30 September, his first son Arseny (called Senka in Tarkovsky's diaries) Tarkovsky was born.
[[File:Tarkovsky vgik.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Monument to Andrei Tarkovsky at entrance of [[Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography]]]]
In 1965, he directed the film ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'' about the life of [[Andrei Rublev]], the fifteenth-century Russian [[icon painter]]. ''Andrei Rublev'' was not, except for a single screening in Moscow in 1966, immediately released after completion due to problems with Soviet authorities. Tarkovsky had to cut the film several times, resulting in several different versions of varying lengths. The film was widely released in the Soviet Union in a cut version in 1971. Nevertheless, the film had a budget of more than 1 million rubles – a significant sum for that period.<ref name=latgale>{{cite web |url=https://latgale.academy/censorships-impact-on-tarkovskys-movies/ |title=Censorship's impact on Tarkovsky's movies |access-date=26 July 2019 |work=latgale.academy}}</ref> A version of the film was presented at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in 1969 and won the [[International Federation of Film Critics|FIPRESCI prize]].

He divorced his wife, Irina, in June 1970. In the same year, he married [[Larisa Tarkovskaya|Larisa Kizilova]] (née Egorkina), who had been a production assistant for the film ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'' (they had been living together since 1965). Their son, Andrei Andreyevich Tarkovsky, (nicknamed Andriosha, meaning "little Andre" or "Andre Junior") was born in the same year on 7 August.{{sfn|Gianvito|2006|page=xxv}}

In 1972, he completed ''[[Solaris (1972 film)|Solaris]]'', an adaptation of the science fiction novel ''[[Solaris (novel)|Solaris]]'' by [[Stanisław Lem]]. He had worked on this together with screenwriter [[Friedrich Gorenstein]] as early as 1968. The film was presented at the [[Cannes Film Festival]], won the [[Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)|Grand Prix Spécial du Jury]], and was nominated for the [[Palme d'Or]].

From 1973 to 1974, he shot the film ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]'', a highly autobiographical and unconventionally structured film drawing on his childhood and incorporating some of his father's poems. In this film Tarkovsky portrayed the plight of childhood affected by war. Tarkovsky had worked on the screenplay for this film since 1967, under the consecutive titles ''Confession'', ''White day'' and ''A white, white day''. From the beginning the film was not well received by Soviet authorities due to its content and its perceived elitist nature. Soviet authorities placed the film in the "third category", a severely limited distribution, and only allowed it to be shown in third-class cinemas and workers' clubs. Few prints were made and the film-makers received no returns. Third category films also placed the film-makers in danger of being accused of wasting public funds, which could have serious effects on their future productivity.<ref>Marshall, Herbert. ''Sight and Sound''. Vol 45, no 2. Spring 1976. p. 93.</ref> These difficulties are presumed to have made Tarkovsky play with the idea of going abroad and producing a film outside the Soviet film industry.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tarkovsky |first=Andrei |author2=translated by Kitty Hunter-Blair |title=Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970-1986 |publisher=Seagull Books |year=1991 |location=[[Calcutta]] |isbn=978-81-7046-083-1|title-link=Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970-1986}}</ref>

During 1975, Tarkovsky also worked on the screenplay ''[[Hoffmanniana]]'', about the German writer and poet [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]]. In December 1976, he directed ''[[Hamlet]]'', his only stage play, at the [[Lenkom Theatre]] in Moscow. The main role was played by [[Anatoly Solonitsyn]], who also acted in several of Tarkovsky's films. At the end of 1978, he also wrote the screenplay ''Sardor'' together with the writer Aleksandr Misharin.

The last film Tarkovsky completed in the Soviet Union was ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'', inspired by the novel ''[[Roadside Picnic]]'' by the brothers [[Arkady and Boris Strugatsky]]. Tarkovsky had met the brothers first in 1971 and was in contact with them until his death in 1986. Initially he wanted to shoot a film based on their novel ''[[Dead Mountaineer's Hotel]]'' and he developed a raw script. Influenced by a discussion with Arkady Strugatsky he changed his plan and began to work on the script based on ''Roadside Picnic''. Work on this film began in 1976. The production was mired in troubles; improper development of the negatives had ruined all the exterior shots. Tarkovsky's relationship with cinematographer [[Georgy Rerberg]] deteriorated to the point where he hired [[Alexander Knyazhinsky]] as a new first cinematographer. Furthermore, Tarkovsky had a heart attack in April 1978, resulting in further delay. The film was completed in 1979 and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the [[Cannes Film Festival]]. In a question and answer session at the [[Edinburgh Filmhouse]] on 11 February 1981, Tarkovsky trenchantly rejected suggestions that the film was either impenetrably mysterious or a political [[allegory]].<ref>''Stalker: Andrei Tarkovsky Talking'', in Bold, Christine (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 5, Summer 1981, pp. 12 & 13.</ref>

<!--In 1979, Tarkovsky began production of the film ''The First Day'' (Russian: Первый День ''Pervyj Dyen''), based on a script by his friend and long-term collaborator [[Andrei Konchalovsky]]. The film was set in 18th-century Russia during the reign of [[Peter the Great]] and starred [[Natalya Bondarchuk]] and [[Anatoli Papanov]]. To get the project approved by [[State Committee for Cinematography|Goskino]], Tarkovsky submitted a script that was different from the original script, omitting several scenes that were critical of the [[Religion in the Soviet Union|official atheism in the Soviet Union]]. After shooting roughly half of the film the project was stopped by Goskino after it became apparent that the film differed from the script submitted to the censors. Tarkovsky was reportedly infuriated by this interruption and destroyed most of the film.<ref name=ReferenceB>{{cite book|script-title=ru:Мир и фильмы Андрея Тарковского. Сост. А. Сандлер. |trans-title=Andey Tarkovsky's world and films |publisher=Iskusstvo(Искусство) |year=1990 |location=Moscow |isbn=978-81-7046-083-1 |language=ru}}</ref>-->

===Film career outside the Soviet Union===
During the summer of 1979, Tarkovsky traveled to Italy, where he shot the documentary ''[[Voyage in Time]]'' together with his long-time friend [[Tonino Guerra]]. Tarkovsky returned to Italy in 1980 for an extended trip, during which he and Guerra completed the script for the film ''[[Nostalghia]]''. During this period, he took Polaroid photographs depicting his personal life.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/andrei-tarkovsky-filmmaker-polaroid-diary/ |title=Filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's sublime polaroid diary offers a personal glimpse into his cinematic vision |last=Thomas-Mason |first=Lee |access-date=13 March 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Tarkovsky returned to Italy in 1982 to start shooting ''Nostalghia'', but [[Mosfilm]] then withdrew from the project, so he sought and received financial backing from the Italian [[RAI]]. Tarkovsky completed the film in 1983, and it was presented at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] where it won the [[International Federation of Film Critics|FIPRESCI prize]] and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Tarkovsky also shared a special prize called ''Grand Prix du cinéma de création'' with [[Robert Bresson]]. Soviet authorities lobbied to prevent the film from winning the [[Palme d'Or]],<ref name=Wagstaff2004>{{cite book |last=Wagstaff |first=Peter |title=Border crossings: mapping identities in modern Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFKGgLAQ8mMC&pg=PA169 |year=2004 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-03910-279-2 |page=169}}</ref> a fact that hardened Tarkovsky's resolve to never work in the Soviet Union again. After Cannes he went to London to stage and choreograph the opera ''[[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'' at the [[Royal Opera House]] under the musical direction of [[Claudio Abbado]].

[[File:Andrej Tarkovskij mug shot at Latina Refugee Camp 1985.jpg|thumb|right|Mug shot of Andrei Tarkovsky at the Latina Refugee Camp of [[Latina, Lazio|Latina]] (Italy) in 1985]]
At a press conference in [[Milan]] on 10 July 1984, he announced that he would never return to the Soviet Union and would remain in Western Europe. He stated, "I am not a Soviet dissident, I have no conflict with the Soviet Government," but if he returned home, he added, "I would be unemployed."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/30/obituaries/andrei-tarkovsky-director-and-soviet-emigre-dies-at-54.html |title=Andrei Tarkovsky, Director and Soviet Emigre, Dies at 54|last=Goodman |first=Walter |work=The New York Times|date=20 December 1986|page=B8|access-date=19 December 2020}}</ref> At that time, his son Andriosha was still in the Soviet Union and not allowed to leave the country. On 28 August 1985, Tarkovsky was processed as a Soviet Defector at a refugee camp in [[Latina, Lazio|Latina]], Italy, registered with the serial number 13225/379, and officially welcomed to the West.<ref>{{cite news |first=Alberto |last=Custodero |title=Latina, quei profughi dell'Est dimenticati. E spunta la scheda di Tarkovskij |journal=La Repubblica |date=10 December 2015 |url=http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2015/12/10/news/latina_profughi_est_rivoluzione_ungherese_commemorazione_documentario_emanuela_gasbarroni_andrej_tarkovskij-129035264/ |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Campo profughi a Latina, la scheda ritrovata di Tarkovskij. Documenti, foto e testimonianze |journal=La Repubblica |date=8 December 2015 |url=http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2015/12/08/foto/campo_profughi_latina_documenti_foto_e_testimonianze-129059106/1/?ref=nrct-1#1 |language=it}}</ref>

Tarkovsky spent most of 1984 preparing the film ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]''. It was finally shot in 1985 in Sweden, with many of the crew being alumni from [[Ingmar Bergman]]'s films, including cinematographer [[Sven Nykvist]]. Tarkovsky's vision of his film was greatly influenced by Bergman's style.

While ''The Sacrifice'' is about an apocalypse and impending death, faith, and possible redemption, in the making-of documentary ''Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky'', in a particularly poignant scene, writer/director [[Michal Leszczylowski]] follows Tarkovsky on a walk as he expresses his sentiments on death—he claims himself to be immortal and has no fear of dying. Ironically, at the end of the year Tarkovsky was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In January 1986, he began treatment in Paris and was joined there by his son, Andre Jr, who was finally allowed to leave the Soviet Union. What would be Tarkovsky's final film was dedicated to him.

''The Sacrifice'' was presented at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] and received the [[Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)|Grand Prix Spécial du Jury]], the [[International Federation of Film Critics|FIPRESCI prize]] and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. As Tarkovsky was unable to attend due to his illness, the prizes were collected by his son.

===Death===
[[File:Gravestone of Andrei Tarkovsky 2007.jpg|thumb|Andrei and Larisa Tarkovsky's grave, [[Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery]] in France]]
In Tarkovsky's last [[Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970–1986|diary]] entry (15 December 1986), he wrote: "But now I have no strength left—that is the problem". The diaries are sometimes also known as ''[[Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970–1986|Martyrology]]'' and were published posthumously in 1989 and in English in 1991.

Tarkovsky died in Paris on 29 December 1986. His funeral ceremony was held at the [[Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Paris|Alexander Nevsky Cathedral]]. He was buried on 3 January 1987 in the [[Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery|Russian Cemetery]] in [[Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Essonne|Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois]] in France. The inscription on his gravestone, which was erected in 1994, was conceived by Tarkovsky's wife, Larisa, reads: ''To the man who saw the Angel''. Larisa died in 1998 and is buried beside her husband.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://skdeco.ru/en/utepliteli/kakoi-rak-byl-u-tarkovskogo-andrei-tarkovskii-poslednie-dni-geniya-skandalnaya.html| title = English translations of various Russian articles and interviews with family members.}}</ref>

<!--Beginning in the early 1990s, some in Russia have alleged that Tarkovsky did not die of natural causes, but was assassinated by the [[KGB]]. Evidence for this hypothesis includes testimonies by former KGB agents who claim that [[Viktor Chebrikov]] gave the order to eradicate Tarkovsky to curtail what the Soviet government and the KGB saw as [[Anti-Soviet agitation|anti-Soviet propaganda]] by Tarkovsky. Other evidence includes several memoranda that surfaced after the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|1991 coup]] and the claim by one of Tarkovsky's doctors that his cancer could not have developed from a natural cause.<ref>Komsolmoskaya Pravda, "New Tarkovsky documents surface", 15. September 1995, page 23.</ref>-->
Tarkovsky, his wife Larisa, and actor [[Anatoly Solonitsyn]] all died from the same type of [[cancer]]. Vladimir Sharun, a sound designer for ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'', was convinced that all three died due to exposure to chemicals released from a chemical plant upstream from where the film was shot.<ref name="SharunQuote"/>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}

==Influences and thoughts on film==
Tarkovsky became a film director during the mid and late 1950s, a period referred to as the [[Khrushchev Thaw]], during which Soviet society opened to foreign films, literature and music, among other things. This allowed Tarkovsky to see films of European, American and Japanese directors, an experience that influenced his own film making. His teacher and mentor at the film school, [[Mikhail Romm]], allowed his students considerable freedom and emphasized the independence of the film director.

Tarkovsky was, according to fellow student Shavkat Abdusalmov, fascinated by Japanese films. He was amazed by how every character on the screen is exceptional and how everyday events such as a Samurai cutting bread with his sword are elevated to something special and put into the limelight.<ref>{{cite book |last=Abdusalamov |first=Shavkat |author2=translated by Sergei Sossinsky |title=Feedback Effects, in About Andrei Tarkovsky, Memoirs and Biographies |publisher=Progress Publishers |year=1990 |location=Moscow |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Japanese_Influences.html |isbn=978-5-01-001973-0 |access-date=26 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612085621/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Japanese_Influences.html |archive-date=12 June 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Tarkovsky has also expressed interest in the art of [[Haiku]] and its ability to create "images in such a way that they mean nothing beyond themselves".<ref>Tarkovsky, Andrei. Sculpting in Time. Trans. Kitty Hunter-Blair. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 2003.</ref>

Tarkovsky perceived that the art of cinema has only been truly mastered by very few filmmakers, stating in a 1970 interview with Naum Abramov that "they can be counted on the fingers of one hand".<ref name=BFI>{{cite web |last1=Gamble |first1=Patrick |title=10 great films that inspired Andrei Tarkovsky |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-films-inspired-andrei-tarkovsky |website=BFI |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=20 July 2016 |date=27 October 2015}}</ref> In 1972, Tarkovsky told film historian Leonid Kozlov his ten favorite films. The list is as follows: ''[[Diary of a Country Priest]]'' and ''[[Mouchette]]'' by [[Robert Bresson]]; ''[[Winter Light]]'', ''[[Wild Strawberries (film)|Wild Strawberries]]'', and ''[[Persona (1966 film)|Persona]]'' by [[Ingmar Bergman]]; ''[[Nazarín]]'' by [[Luis Buñuel]]; ''[[City Lights]]'' by [[Charlie Chaplin]]; ''[[Ugetsu]]'' by [[Kenji Mizoguchi]]; ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' by [[Akira Kurosawa]], and ''[[Woman in the Dunes]]'' by [[Hiroshi Teshigahara]]. He also liked [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]]'s film ''[[The Gospel According to St. Matthew (film)|The Gospel According to St. Matthew]]''.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Aleksandr Lipkov |author2=Robert Bird |title=The Passion According to Andrei: An Unpublished Interview with Andrei Tarkovsky |url=http://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/PassionacctoAndrei.html |website=nostalghia.com |publisher=Literaturnoe obozrenie 1988, University of Chicago |access-date=22 March 2024 |pages=74–80 |date=February 1, 1967 |quote=Interviewer: "What do you think about Pasolini's Gospel according to Matthew? That's also a kind of historical film."  Tarkovsky: "Of course. I like the picture. I like it precisely because its director did not succumb to the temptation of interpreting the Bible. The Bible has been interpreted for two thousand years and no one can reach unanimous agreement. So Pasolini did not set himself this task, he just left the thing in the form in which it was born. Many feel that the image of a militant cruel Christ was made up by the author of the film. Not true! Read the Gospels and you will see that this was a cruel, cantankerous, irreconcilable man. Moreover with what genius was it written! On the one hand he's God and the Church has been relying on him for two thousand years, but he succumbs to doubt in the garden of Gethsemane. What could be simpler than to call for help from his father and avoid dying on the cross, but he doesn't do this. He is all back-to-front..."}}</ref> Among his favorite directors were Buñuel, Mizoguchi, Bergman, Bresson, Kurosawa, [[Michelangelo Antonioni]], [[Jean Vigo]], and [[Carl Theodor Dreyer]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lasica |first=Tom |title=Tarkovsky's Choice |journal=Sight and Sound |volume=3 |issue=3 |date=March 1993 |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Tarkovsky-TopTen.html |access-date=25 December 2007 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090706074126/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Tarkovsky-TopTen.html |archive-date=6 July 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

With the exception of ''City Lights'', the list does not contain any films of the early silent era. The reason is that Tarkovsky saw film as an art as only a relatively recent phenomenon, with the early film-making forming only a prelude. The list has also no films or directors from Tarkovsky's native Soviet Union, although he rated Soviet directors such as [[Boris Barnet]], [[Sergei Parajanov]], and [[Alexander Dovzhenko]] highly. He said of Dovzhenko's ''[[Earth (1930 film)|Earth]]'': "I have lived a lot among very simple farmers and met extraordinary people. They spread calmness, had such tact, they conveyed a feeling of dignity and displayed wisdom that I have seldom come across on such a scale. Dovzhenko had obviously understood wherein the sense of life resides. [...] This trespassing of the border between nature and mankind is an ideal place for the existence of man. Dovzhenko understood this."{{sfn|Gianvito|2006|p=42–43}} Tarkovsky considered ''Earth'' to be his cinematic "university" and would watch the film whenever beginning a new work.<ref name="Skurativsky"/>

He was also not a fan of blockbusters or science fiction, largely dismissing the latter for its "comic book" trappings and vulgar commercialism. <!--However, in notable exceptions Tarkovsky praised the [[James Cameron]] blockbuster film ''[[The Terminator]]'', saying that its "vision of the future and the relation between man and its destiny is pushing the frontier of cinema as an art". He was critical of the "brutality and low acting skills", but was nevertheless impressed by the film. --> According to his son, Andrei A. Tarkovsky, Tarkovsky enjoyed [[George Lucas]]'s ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris and Stalker |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/features/tarkovsky/ |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=www2.bfi.org.uk}}</ref><!--<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-07-17 |title=The James Cameron action film that Andrei Tarkovsky loved |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/james-cameron-film-andrei-tarkovsky-loved/ |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref>--><ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-29 |title="This is not a coincidence": Max Dax talks to Andrey A. Tarkovsky |url=https://www.electronicbeats.net/this-is-not-a-coincidence-max-dax-talks-to-andrey-a-tarkovsky/ |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=Telekom Electronic Beats |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Themes==
In his work, Tarkovsky explored philosophical and religious themes, such as the meaning and experience of faith, inner freedom, the soul's relation to the divine or non-material realm, and the act of artistic creation.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Jerzy Illg and Leonard Neuger |title='I'm interested in the problem of inner freedom...' |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/interview.html |website=Nostalghia.com |access-date=29 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008021725/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/interview.html |archive-date=8 October 2009 |date=March 1985 |format=Interview}}</ref><ref name="Schirmer">{{cite book |editor1-last=Tarkovsky Jr. |editor1-first=Andrey A. |editor2-last=Schlegel |editor2-first=Hans-Joachim |editor3-last=Schirmer |editor3-first=Lothar |title=Andrey Tarkovsky: Films, Stills, Polaroids & Writings |date=2012 |publisher=Schirmer/Mosel |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-8296-0627-1 |last=Schlegel |first=Hans-Joachim |chapter=Between Here and There: Andrey Tarkovsky's World of Pictures and Sounds}}</ref> These themes found direct expression in his unique cinematic formal style and subject matter.

Although he considered himself to be a religious person, he refused to be narrowly defined by any one label and had little regard for the institutional church.<ref name="Sculpting in Time">{{cite book |last1=Tarkovsky |first1=Andrey |title=Sculpting in Time |date=1 April 1989 |location=Austin, TX |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0241548653 |translator-last=Hunter-Blair |translator-first=Kitty}}</ref>{{rp|237}}{{efn|The full quote from ''Sculpting in Time'' (p. 237) runs as follows: "Not even the Church can quench man's thirst for the Absolute, for unfortunately it only exists as a kind of appendage, copying or even caricaturing the social institutions by which our everyday life is organised. Certainly in today's world which leans so heavily towards the material and the technological, the Church so far shows no sign of being able to redress the balance with a call to a spiritual awakening."}} Speaking about ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]'', in his last interview he stated: "I don't think it's really important whether I adhere to any particular conviction or faith—heathen, Catholic, Protestant or Christian in general. What matters is the film."<ref name="Schirmer" />{{rp|10}}

His films evince an idiosyncratic and eclectic spirituality, drawing elements from [[Christian mysticism]], [[existentialism]], [[supernaturalism]], [[paganism]], and [[anthroposophy]].<ref name="Schirmer" /><ref>{{cite web |title=On Steiner and Anthroposophy |url=http://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Steiner.html |website=Nostalghia.com |access-date=29 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610230412/http://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Steiner.html |archive-date=10 June 2019 |format=Interview |date=August 1985}}</ref> He was deeply influenced by the existentialist writings of [[Dostoevsky]], and planned to make a film about the writer that was never completed.<ref name="Diaries">{{cite book |last1=Tarkovsky |first1=Andrey |title=Time Within Time: The Diaries, 1970–1986 |date=11 January 2002 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=9780571167173 |translator-last=Hunter-Blair |translator-first=Kitty}}</ref>{{rp|3}}

Tarkovsky was vehemently critical of what he perceived to be the overly rationalistic, egoistic, decadent, and materialistic outlook of [[Western culture]], which in his view was concerned more with monetary profit and individual self-expression than with artistic ideals like beauty, truth, and selflessness.<ref name="Sculpting in Time" />{{rp|231–241}} This [[Modernism#Criticism of late modernity|critique of late modernity]] is embedded in his films.<ref name="On the Sacrifice">{{cite web |last1=Epelboin |first1=Annie |title=Andrei Tarkovsky on The Sacrifice |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Sacrifice.html |website=Nostalghia.com |access-date=29 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927214139/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Sacrifice.html |archive-date=27 September 2009 |format=Interview |date=15 March 1986}}</ref> As his diaries indicate, these perceptions were heightened during his period of exile in the West.<ref name="Diaries" />

Against this state of societal decline and spiritual impoverishment, Tarkovsky expounded an ethics of art based on a "poetic" understanding of the passions and complexities of life, one in which freedom and authentic action are possible.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sutkowska |first1=Ewa |title=Tarkovsky in London |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Tarkovsky_in_London.html |website=Nostalghia.com |access-date=29 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706143322/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Tarkovsky_in_London.html |archive-date=6 July 2009 |format=Interview |date=September 1984}}</ref> The artist, for Tarkovsky, has a quasi-religious, ascetic duty to disavow the self in service of a higher spiritual purpose, a process mirrored by characters in films such as ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'', ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'', and ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]''. Tarkovsky saw fragments of this artistic ideal in some Western art (notably [[J.S. Bach]]), in [[Eastern Orthodox]] Christian [[icon]]ography, and, increasingly, in East Asian spiritual traditions like [[Taoism]] and [[Zen Buddhism]]—elements of which also recur in the films.<ref name="On the Sacrifice" /><ref name="Martin">{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Seán |title=A World in a Drop of Water: Eastern Influences in the Films of Andrei Tarkovsky |journal=The phenomenon of Andrei Tarkovsky in intellectual and artistic divine culture. Materials of the scientific and theoretical conference (June 12–14, 2013) |editor-last=Tsymbal |editor-first=E. |location=Ivanovo |publisher=PresSto |date=2014 |pages=135–149 |url=https://www.academia.edu/29590882/A_World_in_a_Drop_of_Water_Eastern_Influences_in_the_films_of_Andrei_Tarkovsky |access-date=29 May 2025 }}{{open access}}</ref> Many of his films can be viewed as expressing the dualistic conflict between these opposing worldviews of West and East.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bachmann |first=Gideon |title=To Journey Within |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Gideon_Bachmann.html |website=Nostalghia.com |access-date=29 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008020855/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Gideon_Bachmann.html |archive-date=8 October 2009 |format=Interview |date=September 1984}}</ref>

In interviews and writings, Tarkovsky frequently commented that art itself was the epitome of a religious sensibility which actively surrendered to something greater than the self:

{{Blockquote |text=The one thing that mankind has ever created in a spirit of self-surrender is the artistic image. Perhaps the meaning of all human activity lies in artistic consciousness, in the pointless and selfless creative act? Perhaps our capacity to create is evidence that we ourselves were created in the image and likeness of God? |source=''Sculpting in Time'' <ref name="Sculpting in Time" />{{rp|241}}}}

==Cinematic style==
In a 1962 interview, Tarkovsky argued: "All art, of course, is intellectual, but for me, all the arts, and cinema even more so, must above all be emotional and act upon the heart."{{sfn|Gianvito|2006|p=5}} His films are characterized by [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] themes, extremely [[long take]]s, and images often considered by critics to be of exceptional beauty. Recurring motifs are dreams, memory, childhood, running water accompanied by fire, rain indoors, reflections, levitation, and characters re-appearing in the foreground of long panning movements of the camera. He once said: "Juxtaposing a person with an environment that is boundless, collating him with a countless number of people passing by close to him and far away, relating a person to the whole world, that is the meaning of cinema."

Tarkovsky incorporated levitation scenes into several of his films, most notably ''Solaris''. To him these scenes possess great power and are used for their photogenic value and magical inexplicability.<ref>{{Cite news |last=de Brantes |first=Charles |title=La foi est la seule chose qui puisse sauver l'homme |newspaper=La France Catholique |date=20 June 1986 |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/AT_On.html |access-date=14 January 2008 |language=fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804055107/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/AT_On.html |archive-date=4 August 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Water, clouds, and reflections were used by him for their surreal beauty and photogenic value, as well as their symbolism, such as waves or the forms of brooks or running water.<ref>{{cite press release |title=English Programme Booklet for ''The Sacrifice'' |publisher=Swedish Film Institute |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/AT_For_Dummies.html |access-date=14 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808041231/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/AT_For_Dummies.html |archive-date=8 August 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Bells and candles are also frequent symbols. These are symbols of film, sight and sound, and Tarkovsky's film frequently has themes of self-reflection.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://kino.rambler.ru/movies/41971904-aleksandr-sokurov-tarkovskomu-zavidovali-strashno-chto-u-nego-takaya-izvestnost/| title = Александр Сокуров: Тарковскому завидовали страшно, что у него такая известность| date = 2 April 2019 |language=ru}}</ref>

Tarkovsky developed a theory of cinema that he called "sculpting in time". By this he meant that the unique characteristic of cinema as a medium was to take our experience of time and alter it. Unedited movie footage transcribes time in [[Real time (media)|real time]]. By using long takes and few cuts in his films, he aimed to give the viewers a sense of time passing, time lost, and the relationship of one moment in time to another.

Up to, and including, his film ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]'', Tarkovsky focused his cinematic works on exploring this theory. After ''Mirror'', he announced that he would focus his work on exploring the [[Classical unities|dramatic unities]] proposed by [[Aristotle]]: a concentrated action, happening in one place, within the span of a single day.

Several of Tarkovsky's films have color or black-and-white sequences. This first occurs in the otherwise monochrome ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'', which features a color epilogue of [[Andrei Rublev|Rublev's]] authentic religious icon paintings. All of his films afterwards contain monochrome, and in ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker's]]'' case [[Photographic print toning|sepia]] sequences, while otherwise being in color. In 1966, in an interview conducted shortly after finishing ''Andrei Rublev'', Tarkovsky dismissed color film as a "commercial gimmick" and cast doubt on the idea that contemporary films meaningfully use color. He claimed that in everyday life one does not consciously notice colors most of the time, and that color should therefore be used in film mainly to emphasize certain moments, but not all the time, as this distracts the viewer. To him, films in color were like moving paintings or photographs, which are too beautiful to be a realistic depiction of life.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chugunova |first=Maria |title=On Cinema – Interview with Tarkovsky |journal=To the Screen |date=December 1966 |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Color.html |access-date=14 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527083703/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Color.html |archive-date=27 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Director [[Ingmar Bergman]] commented on Tarkovsky:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://nostalghia.com/ |title=An Andrei Tarkovsky Information Site |last=Bielawski |first=Trond Trondsen and Jan |website=nostalghia.com |access-date=11 March 2018}}</ref>
{{Blockquote
|text=My discovery of Tarkovsky's first film was like a miracle. Suddenly, I found myself standing at the door of a room the keys of which had until then, never been given to me. It was a room I had always wanted to enter and where he was moving freely and fully at ease. I felt encountered and stimulated: someone was expressing what I had always wanted to say without knowing how. Tarkovsky is for me the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream.}}

Contrarily, however, Bergman conceded the truth in the claim made by a critic who wrote that "with ''[[Autumn Sonata]]'' Bergman does Bergman", adding: "Tarkovsky began to make Tarkovsky films, and that [[Federico Fellini|Fellini]] began to make Fellini films [...] [[Luis Buñuel|Buñuel]] nearly always made Buñuel films." This [[pastiche]] of one's own work has been derogatorily termed as "self-karaoke".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.openculture.com/2013/10/ingmar-bergman-evaluates-his-fellow-filmmakers.html|title=Ingmar Bergman Evaluates His Fellow Filmmakers -- The "Affected" Godard, "Infantile" Hitchcock & Sublime Tarkovsky &#124; Open Culture}}</ref>

===Vadim Yusov===
Tarkovsky worked in close collaboration with cinematographer [[Vadim Yusov]] from 1958 to 1972, and much of the visual style of Tarkovsky's films can be attributed to this collaboration.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/List_of_noted_film_director_and_cinematographer_collaborations::sub::Andrei_Tarkovsky_Vadim_Yusov| title = List of Noted Film Director And Cinematographer Collaborations: Andrei Tarkovsky Vadim Yusov |publisher=Museum of Learning}}</ref> Tarkovsky would spend two days preparing for Yusov to film a single long take, and due to the preparation, usually only a single take was needed.<ref name=Tarkovsky79>The films of Andrei Tarkovsky: a visual fugue By Vida T. Johnson, Graham Petrie, p. 79.</ref>

===Sven Nykvist===
In his last film, ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]'', Tarkovsky worked with cinematographer [[Sven Nykvist]], who had worked on many films with director [[Ingmar Bergman]]. (Nykvist was not alone: several people involved in the production had previously collaborated with Bergman, notably lead actor [[Erland Josephson]], who had also acted for Tarkovsky in ''[[Nostalghia]]''.) Nykvist complained that Tarkovsky would frequently look through the camera and even direct actors through it, but ultimately stated that choosing to work with Tarkovsky was one of the best choices he had ever made.<ref name=Tarkovsky79/>

==Filmography==
{{main|Andrei Tarkovsky filmography}}
Tarkovsky is mainly known as a film director. During his career he directed seven feature films, as well as three shorts from his time at VGIK. His features are:
* ''[[Ivan's Childhood]]'' (1962)
* ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'' (1966)
* ''[[Solaris (1972 film)|Solaris]]'' (1972)
* ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]'' (1975)
* ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'' (1979)
* ''[[Nostalghia]]'' (1983)
* ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]'' (1986)

He also wrote several screenplays. Furthermore, he directed the play ''[[Hamlet]]'' for the stage in Moscow, directed the opera ''[[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'' in London, and he directed a radio production of the short story ''Turnabout'' by [[William Faulkner]]. He also wrote ''[[Sculpting in Time]]'', a book on film theory.

Tarkovsky's first feature film was ''[[Ivan's Childhood]]'' in 1962. He then directed ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'' in 1966, ''[[Solaris (1972 film)|Solaris]]'' in 1972, ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]'' in 1975 and ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'' in 1979. The documentary ''[[Voyage in Time]]'' was produced in Italy in 1982, as was ''[[Nostalghia]]'' in 1983. His last film ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]'' was produced in Sweden in 1986. Tarkovsky was personally involved in writing the screenplays for all his films, sometimes with a cowriter. Tarkovsky once said that a director who realizes somebody else's screenplay without being involved in it becomes a mere illustrator, resulting in dead and monotonous films.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tarkovsky |first=Andrei |title=Lectures on Film Directing (notes from classes taught by Tarkovsky at the State Institute of Cinematography) |journal=Iskusstvo Kino |year=1990 |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Directing.html |access-date=14 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804052531/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Directing.html |archive-date=4 August 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Illg |first=Jerzy |title=Z Andriejem Tarkowskim rozmawiają Jerzy Illg, Leonard Neuger |journal=Res Publica |volume=1 |pages=137–160 |year=1987 |url=http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/interview.html |access-date=16 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116155850/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/interview.html |archive-date=16 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Publications==
* ''[[Sculpting in Time]]''. University of Texas Press, 1986. {{ISBN|
0-292-77624-1}}.
* ''[[Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970–1986]]''. Seagull, 1989. {{ISBN|9780857424921}}. Translated by Kitty Hunter-Blair.
* ''Collected Screenplays''. London: Faber & Faber, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0571142668}}.
* ''Instant Light, Tarkovsky Polaroids''. London: Thames and Hudson, 2006. {{ISBN|9780500286142}}. A book of 60 photographs taken by Tarkovsky in Russia and Italy between 1979 and 1984. Edited by Italian photographer [[Giovanni Chiaramonte]] and Tarkovsky's son Andrey A. Tarkovsky.
* ''Bright, bright day''. Tarkovsky Foundation and White Space Gallery, 2008. A book of Polaroids edited by [[Stephen Gill (photographer)|Stephen Gill]]. {{ISBN|978-0955739415}}. Edition of 3000 copies.
* ''Tarkovsky: Films, Stills, Polaroids & Writings''. London: Thames and Hudson, 2019. {{ISBN|978-0500022597}}.

==Unproduced screenplays==
===''Concentrate''===
'''''Concentrate''''' ({{lang|ru|Концентрат}}, ''Kontsentrat'') is a never-filmed 1958 screenplay by Tarkovsky. The screenplay is based on Tarkovsky's year in the [[taiga]] as a member of a research expedition, prior to his enrollment in film school.<ref>{{cite book |last= Turovskaya |first= Maya |title= Tarkovsky: Cinema as Poetry |publisher= Faber and Faber |year= 1989 |location= London |url= http://ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Shorts.html |isbn=978-0-571-14709-0 |access-date= 30 December 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090612124640/http://ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Shorts.html |archive-date= 12 June 2009 |url-status= dead}}</ref> It's about the leader of a geological expedition, who waits for the boat that brings back the [[concentrate]]s collected by the expedition. The expedition is surrounded by mystery, and its purpose is a state secret.

Although some authors claim that the screenplay was filmed, according to Marina Tarkovskaya, Tarkovsky's sister (and wife of Aleksandr Gordon, a fellow student of Tarkovsky during his film school years) the screenplay was never filmed. Tarkovsky wrote the screenplay during his entrance examination at the State Institute of Cinematography ([[Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography|VGIK]]) in a single sitting. He earned the highest possible grade, "excellent" ({{lang|ru|отлично}}) for this work. In 1994, fragments of ''Concentrate'' were filmed and used in the documentary ''Andrei Tarkovsky's Taiga Summer'' by Marina Tarkovskaya and Aleksandr Gordon.<ref>{{cite web |last=Blasco |first=Gonzalo |title=An Interview with Marina Tarkovskaia and Alexander Gordon |publisher=andreitarkovski.org |date=10 November 2003 |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Marina_and_Alexandr.html |access-date=14 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307214559/http://people.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Marina_and_Alexandr.html |archive-date=7 March 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===''Hoffmanniana''===
{{Infobox short story
|name = Hoffmanniana
|title_orig = Гофманиана
|translator=
|author = Andrei Tarkovsky
|country = [[Soviet Union|USSR]]
|language = Russian
|genre=
|published_in=
|publication_type=
|media_type = Screenplay
|pub_date = 1976
|english_pub_date=
|preceded_by=
}}

'''''Hoffmanniana''''' ({{lang|ru|Гофманиана}}) is a never-filmed 1974 screenplay by Tarkovsky. The screenplay is based on the life and work of German author [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]]. In 1974, an acquaintance from [[Tallinnfilm]] approached Tarkovsky to write a screenplay on a German theme. Tarkovsky considered [[Thomas Mann]] and E. T. A. Hoffmann, and also thought about [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]]'s ''[[Peer Gynt]]''. In the end Tarkovsky signed a contract for a script based on the life and work of Hoffmann. He planned to write the script during the summer of 1974 at his [[dacha]]. Writing was not without difficulty, less than a month before the deadline he had not written a single page. He finally finished the project in late 1974 and submitted the final script to Tallinnfilm in October.<ref name=wpowell>{{cite book |last= Tarkovsky |first= Andrei |editor-first= William |editor-last= Powell |title= Collected Screenplays |publisher= Faber & Faber |location= London |year= 1999}}
</ref>

Although the script was well received by the officials at Tallinnfilm, it was the consensus that no one but Tarkovsky would be able to direct it. The script was sent to [[State Committee for Cinematography|Goskino]] in February 1976, and although approval was granted for proceeding with making the film, the screenplay was never realized. In 1984, during the time of his exile in the West, Tarkovsky revisited the screenplay and made a few changes. He also considered to finally direct a film based on the screenplay but ultimately dropped this idea.<ref name=wpowell/>

==Films about Tarkovsky==
* ''[[Voyage in Time]]'' (1983): documents the travels in Italy of Andrei Tarkovsky in preparation for the making of his film ''Nostalghia'', co-directed with [[Tonino Guerra]].
* ''Tarkovsky: A Poet in the Cinema'' (1984): directed by Donatella Baglivo.
* ''[[Moscow Elegy]]'' (1987), a documentary/homage to Tarkovsky by [[Aleksandr Sokurov]].<ref>{{Cite web|language=ru|url=https://seance.ru/articles/sokurov-tarkovsky/|title="Московская элегия" — Опустевший дом|website=[[Seans]]|date=12 June 2016 |access-date=2016-06-12}}</ref>
* ''Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Zeit'' (1988): Andrej Tarkowskijs Exil und Tod. Documentary directed by Ebbo Demant. Germany.
* ''[[One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich]]'' (1999): French documentary film directed by [[Chris Marker]].
* ''Andrey'' (2006): a film by Nariné Mktchyan and Arsen Azatyan about Tarkovsky visiting Armenia.<ref>{{Cite web|language=en|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2638384/|title=Андрей|website=IMDb}}</ref>
* ''Tarkovsky: Time Within Time'' (2015): documentary by P.&nbsp;J. Letofsky.
* ''Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer'' (2019): a poetic documentary by Tarkovsky's son Andrei A. Tarkovsky.<ref>{{Cite web|language=ru|url=https://nonfiction.film/movie/Tarkovsky/|title=Андрей Тарковский. Кино как молитва|website=nonfiction.film|access-date=2021-06-29|archive-date=2021-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814102507/https://nonfiction.film/movie/Tarkovsky/}}</ref>

==Accolades==
{{main|List of awards won by Andrei Tarkovsky}}
Numerous awards were bestowed on Tarkovsky throughout his lifetime.
* At the [[Venice Film Festival]], the [[Golden Lion]] for ''[[Ivan's Childhood]]''
* [[File:Andrei tarkovsky stamp russia 2007.jpg|thumb|Russian stamp, 2007]]At the [[Cannes Film Festival]], the [[International Federation of Film Critics|FIPRESCI prize]] three times,<ref>{{cite web|title=Andrei Tarkovsky|url=https://fipresci.org/people/andrei-tarkovsky/|website=fipresci.org}}</ref> the [[Prize of the Ecumenical Jury]] three times (more than any other director), the [[Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)|Grand Prix Spécial du Jury]] twice, and the [[Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director|Best Director]] award once. He was also nominated for the [[Palme d'Or]] three times.
* In 1987, the [[BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language#1980s|BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] of the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] for ''[[The Sacrifice (1986 film)|The Sacrifice]]''.

Under the influence of [[Glasnost]] and [[Perestroika]], Tarkovsky was finally recognized in the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1986, shortly before his death, by a retrospective of his films in Moscow. After his death, an entire issue of the film magazine ''Iskusstvo Kino'' was devoted to Tarkovsky. In their obituaries, the film committee of the [[Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union]] and the Union of Soviet Film Makers expressed their sorrow that Tarkovsky had to spend the last years of his life in exile.<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary |publisher=[[Literaturnaya Gazeta]] |date=7 January 1987}}</ref>

Posthumously, he was awarded the [[Lenin Prize]] in 1990, one of the highest state honors in the Soviet Union. In 1989, the ''Andrei Tarkovsky Memorial Prize'' was established, with its first recipient being the Russian animator [[Yuri Norstein]]. In three consecutive events, the [[Moscow International Film Festival]] awarded the ''Andrei Tarkovsky Award'' in 1993, 1995, and 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000450/1993/1/ |title=Moscow International Film Festival (1993) |website=IMDb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000450/1995/1/ |title=Moscow International Film Festival (1995) |website=IMDb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000450/1997/1/ |title=Moscow International Film Festival (1997) |website=IMDb}}</ref>

In 1996, the Andrei Tarkovsky Museum opened in [[Yuryevets, Ivanovo Oblast|Yuryevets]], his childhood town.<ref>{{cite web |title=Музей Андрея Тарковского |url=http://www.museum.ru/tarkovsky |access-date=30 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708053303/http://www.museum.ru/tarkovsky/ |archive-date=8 July 2007}}</ref> A [[minor planet]], [[3345 Tarkovskij]], discovered by Soviet astronomer [[Lyudmila Karachkina]] in 1982, has been named after him.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3 |year=2003}}</ref>

Tarkovsky has been the subject of several documentaries. Most notable is the 1988 documentary ''[[Moscow Elegy]]'', by Russian film director [[Alexander Sokurov]]. Sokurov's own work has been heavily influenced by Tarkovsky. The film consists mostly of narration over stock footage from Tarkovsky's films. ''Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky'' is a 1988 documentary film by [[Michal Leszczylowski]], an editor of the film ''The Sacrifice''. Film director [[Chris Marker]] produced the television documentary ''[[One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich]]'' as an homage to Andrei Tarkovsky in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |title= Significant Documentaries |url= http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheDocumentaries/Documentaries.html |access-date= 15 January 2008 |archive-url= http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090706034019/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheDocumentaries/Documentaries.html |archive-date= 6 July 2009 |url-status= dead}}</ref>

At the entrance to the [[Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography]] in [[Moscow]], there is a monument that includes statues of Tarkovsky, [[Gennady Shpalikov]] and [[Vasily Shukshin]].<ref name=panoramio>{{cite web |title= Panoramio - Photo of Monument to Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography famous learner - Gennady Shpalikov, Andrei Tarkovsky and Vasily Shukshin |url= https://www.panoramio.com/photo/26383277 |website= panoramio.com |access-date= 27 November 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033517/https://www.panoramio.com/photo/26383277 |archive-date= 1 December 2017 |url-status= dead}}</ref>

==Reception and legacy==
Andrei Tarkovsky and his works have received praise from many filmmakers, critics and thinkers.

The Swedish filmmaker [[Ingmar Bergman]] was quoted as saying: "Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [of us all], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream".<ref name=ReferenceA>Title quote of 2003 Tarkovsky Festival Program, Pacific Film Archive.</ref>

The Japanese filmmaker [[Akira Kurosawa]] remarked on Tarkovsky's films as saying: "His unusual sensitivity is both overwhelming and astounding. It almost reaches a pathological intensity. Probably there is no equal among film directors alive now." Kurosawa also commented: "I love all of Tarkovsky's films. I love his personality and all his works. Every cut from his films is a marvelous image in itself. But the finished image is nothing more than the imperfect accomplishment of his idea. His ideas are only realized in part. And he had to make do with it."<ref name="Roy" >{{cite web |author1=Deepro Roy |title=16 Legendary Filmmakers Praised by Other Great Directors |url=http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/16-legendary-filmmakers-praised-by-other-great-directors/3/ |website=Taste of Cinema |date=9 September 2015 |access-date=20 June 2021}}</ref>

The Iranian filmmaker [[Abbas Kiarostami]] remarked that: "Tarkovsky's works separate me completely from physical life, and are the most spiritual films I have seen".<ref name="Roy" />

The Polish filmmaker [[Krzysztof Kieślowski]] commented that: "Andrei Tarkovsky was one of the greatest directors of recent years,"<ref name="Roy" /> and regarded Tarkovsky's film ''[[Ivan's Childhood]]'' as an influence on his own work.<ref name="childhood">{{cite web|author1=Daly, Fergus|author2=Katherine Waugh|title=Ivan's Childhood|date=21 March 2003 |publisher=Senses of Cinema|url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/cteq/ivans_childhood/|access-date=24 May 2018}}</ref>

The Turkish filmmaker [[Nuri Bilge Ceylan]] said that when he first discovered the films of Andrei Tarkovsky as a college student, unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, he was utterly baffled by the lauded Soviet master. He walked out of a screening of ''[[Solaris (1972 film)|Solaris]]'' at the halfway point, and stopped a VHS tape of ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]'' at a similar juncture. Today, he considers the latter to be the greatest film ever made. "I've seen it maybe 20 times," he says.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Foundas |first1=Scott |title=Nuri Bilge Ceylan on 'Winter Sleep' and Learning to Love Boring Movies |url=https://variety.com/2014/film/features/nuri-bilge-ceylan-on-winter-sleep-and-learning-to-love-boring-movies-1201346563/ |website=Variety |date=4 November 2014 |access-date=24 April 2022}}</ref>

The Armenian filmmaker [[Sergei Parajanov]] remarked that watching Tarkovsky's film, ''Ivan's Childhood'' was his main inspiration to become a filmmaker by saying: "I did not know how to do anything and I would not have done anything if there had not been ''Ivan's Childhood''".<ref name="childhood" />

The Austrian filmmaker [[Michael Haneke]] voted for ''Mirror'' on his top 10 films in the 2002 ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' directors' poll<ref>{{cite web |title=Michael Haneke |url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/voter.php?forename=Michael&surname=Haneke |website=BFI Film Forever |publisher=Sight and Sound |access-date=20 June 2021 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624201706/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/voter.php?forename=Michael&surname=Haneke |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002 The Rest of Director's List|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/directors-long.html|website=old.bfi.org.uk|access-date=20 June 2021|archive-date=1 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201155933/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/directors-long.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and later said that he has seen the picture at least 25 times.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/05/happy-haneke|title=Happy Haneke|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/2013/01/23/michael_haneke_art_doesn%E2%80%99t_offer_answers_only_questions/|title=Michael Haneke: "Art doesn't offer answers, only questions"|work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]]}}</ref>

The American filmmaker [[Stan Brakhage]] said that: "I personally think that the three greatest tasks for film in the 20th century are (1) To make the epic, that is to tell the tales of the tribes of the world. (2) To keep it personal, because only in the eccentricities of our personal lives do we have any chances at the truth. (3) To do the dream work, that is, to illuminate the borders of the unconscious. The only filmmaker I know that does all these three things equally in every film he makes is Andrei Tarkovsky, and that's why I think he's the greatest living narrative filmmaker."<ref>{{cite web |title=Brakhage Pans Telluride Gold |url=http://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Brakhage_and_Tarkovsky.html |website=Nostalghia.com |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=John Gianvito |title=Andrei Tarkovsky - Interviews |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781578062201 |page=X |chapter=Introduction|date=25 April 2024 }}</ref>

The German filmmaker [[Wim Wenders]] dedicated his film ''[[Wings of Desire]]'' to Tarkovsky (along with [[François Truffaut]] and [[Yasujirō Ozu]]).<ref>{{cite web |author1=Maria Fadeeva |title=Andrei Tarkovsky: The filmmaker who saw an angel |url=https://www.rbth.com/articles/2012/04/05/andrei_tarkovsky_the_filmmaker_who_saw_an_angel_15259.html |website=Russia Beyond |access-date=15 July 2021 |date=April 5, 2012 |quote=Even Wim Wenders, the great creator of the road movie, dedicated his "Wings of Desire" to Tarkovsky and Ozu (along with France's François Truffaut), noting that these three film producers focused "on the enduring truth, which lasted from the first scene to the last."}}</ref>

The French filmmaker [[Chris Marker]] directed a documentary film as a homage to Tarkovsky called ''[[One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich]]'' and used Tarkovsky's concept of "The Zone" (from the film, ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'') for his 1983 [[film essay]], ''[[Sans Soleil]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Catherine Lupton |title=Chris Marker - Memories of the Future |date=2005 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=9781861892232}}</ref>

The Greek filmmaker [[Theo Angelopoulos]] regarded Tarkovsky's film ''Stalker'' as one of the films that influenced him.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Andrew Horton |title=The Films of Theo Angelopoulos - A Cinema of Contemplation |date=September 29, 2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400884421 |page=73 |chapter=3 - Angelopoulos, the Continuous Image and Cinema |quote=We should realize, however, that Angelopoulos is an unusual paradox in the history of cinema: he is very clearly "Greek" as I have demonstrated, and yet he is an international filmmaker who has been influenced by filmmakers from around the globe. He has observed: "I draw techniques from everything I've seen....I continue to love...very much the films of Murnau, Mizoguchi, Antonioni. More recently: Tarkovsky's Stalker, Godard's Every Man for Himself and of course Ordet....}}</ref>

The Polish filmmaker [[Andrzej Żuławski]] remarked that: "If anybody influenced anybody, it's me being influenced by Tarkovsky, not the reverse", and called Tarkovsky's film [[Andrei Rublev]] a "masterpiece".<ref>{{cite web |author1=Donato Totaro |title=An Interview with Andrzej Zulawski and Daniel Bird |url=https://offscreen.com/view/an-interview-with-andrzej-zulawski-and-daniel-bird |website=OffScreen |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref>

The Greek-Australian filmmaker [[Alex Proyas]] was "extremely influenced" by Tarkovsky's work and cited ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'' as one of his favorite films.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Jen Yamato |title=Five Favorite Films with Alex Proyas |url=https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/five-favorite-films-with-alex-proyas/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes |publisher=Fandango |access-date=30 August 2021 |date=March 16, 2009}}</ref>

The French philosopher [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] highly praised Tarkovsky's film ''Ivan's Childhood'', saying that it was one of the most beautiful films he had ever seen.<ref>{{cite web|author=Sartre, Jean-Paul|title=Discussion on the criticism of Ivan's Childhood|publisher=www.nostalghia.com|url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Sartre.html|access-date=13 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919024923/http://people.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Sartre.html|archive-date=19 September 2009}}</ref>

The Japanese [[anime]] filmmaker [[Mamoru Oshii]], known for his works such as ''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)|Ghost in the Shell]]'', was influenced by Tarkovsky.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Brian Ruh |title=Stray Dog of Anime - The Films of Mamoru Oshii |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=9781137437907}}</ref>

The Indian-born British American novelist [[Salman Rushdie]] praised Tarkovsky and his work ''Solaris'' by calling it "a sci-fi masterpiece".<ref>Rushdie, Salman. ''Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992–2002''. New York: Random House, 2002, p. 335.</ref>

Film historian [[Steven Dillon (writer and professor)|Steven Dillon]] says that much of subsequent film was deeply influenced by the films of Tarkovsky.<ref>{{cite book |last= Dillon |first= Steven |title= The Solaris Effect: Art and Artifice in Contemporary American Film |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |year= 2006 |isbn= 978-0-292-71345-1}}</ref>

Mexican filmmaker [[Alejandro González Iñárritu|Alejandro González Iñarritu]] is a huge fan of Tarkovsky. He once said in an interview: "[[Andrei Rublev (film)|''Andrei Rublev'']] is maybe my favorite film ever", and in another interview, he added: "I remember, the first time I saw a Tarkovsky film, I was shocked by it. I did not know what to do. I was shocked by it. I was fascinated, because suddenly I realized that film could have so many more layers to it than what I had imagined before". There are many direct references and hidden tributes to Tarkovsky's movies in Iñarritu's 2015 Oscar-winning drama ''[[The Revenant (2015 film)|The Revenant]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tarkovsky And The Revenant – Homage, And Beyond.|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/articles/tarkovsky-and-revenant-homage-and-beyond|access-date=2021-08-11|website=www.goldenglobes.com|date=18 February 2016 |language=en}}</ref>

Danish film director [[Lars von Trier]] is a fervent admirer of Tarkovsky. He dedicated his 2009 film ''[[Antichrist (film)|Antichrist]]'' to him, and, while discussing it with critic David Jenkins, asked: "Have you seen ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]''? I was hypnotised! I've seen it 20 times. It's the closest thing I've got to a religion – to me he is a god".<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Tarkovsky legacy {{!}} Deep focus {{!}} Sight & Sound|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/deep-focus/tarkovsky-legacy|access-date=2021-11-04|website=British Film Institute|date=8 May 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

The Japanese composer [[Ryuichi Sakamoto]] was an admirer of Tarkovsky's work, describing his penultimate solo album, ''[[Async (album)|async]]'' as "a soundtrack for an imaginary Tarkovsky film."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weston |first1=Hillary |title=Sonic Memories: A Conversation with Ryuichi Sakamoto |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4625-sonic-memories-a-conversation-with-ryuichi-sakamoto/ |website=[[The Criterion Collection|Criterion]]|date=1 June 2017 |access-date=30 March 2024}}</ref> On Tarkovsky's overall influence on his own work, Sakamoto stated, "As I've been making music and trying to go deeper and deeper, I was finally able to understand what the Tarkovsky movies are about — how symphonic they are —  it's almost music. Not just the sounds — it's a symphony of moving images and sounds. They are more complex than music."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hubert |first1=Craig |title=Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto Reflects on His Life, Work, and Battle with Cancer |url=https://hyperallergic.com/451093/ryuichi-sakamoto-coda-interview// |website=[[Hyperallergic]] |date=16 July 2018 |access-date=30 March 2024}}</ref>

===Film festival===
<!---redirects for Zerkalo target this section for now--->
Two film festivals have been named in his honor:
* [[Stalker (film festival)|International Human Rights Film Festival "Stalker"]], named after the film held annually in Moscow and regional centres since 1995
* International Film Festival "Zerkalo" named after Andrei Tarkovsky (meaning "mirror"), "for fans of intellectual cinema";<ref>{{cite web | title=International Film Festival 'Zerkalo' | website=Russian events | date=1 June 2019 | url=http://eventsinrussia.com/en/event/20253 | access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref> also known as Tarkovsky Film festival – Zerkalo,<ref>{{cite web | title=Tarkovsky Film festival - Zerkalo | website=IMDb  | url=http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0003032/overview/ | access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref> Zerkalo International Film Festival,<ref>{{cite web | title=The 14th Zerkalo International Film Festival Has Closed |date=30 June 2020| website=Zerkalo  | url=http://en.zerkalo.space/winners | access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref> Andrei Tarkovsky Zerkalo International Film Festival,<ref>{{YouTube| JbjbL6d_xC4|Andrei Tarkovsky ZERKALO International Film Festival 2020}} 4 July 2020.</ref> {{ill|Tarkovskyfest|ru|Зеркало (кинофестиваль)}} or simply Zerkalo,<ref name=festagent>{{cite web | title=Zerkalo | website=Festagent | date=15 May 2019 | url=https://festagent.com/en/festivals/kinozerkalo | access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref> The festival is organized by a committee headed by [[Mikhail Men]], governor of [[Ivanovo Oblast]]. Sister of Andrei Tarkovsky, Marina Tarkovsky was one of the co-founders and organizers. From 2010 the festival was directed by [[Pavel Lungin]].<ref name=festagent/> In 2020, the president of the festival was Russian director [[Sergei Bodrov]]. Owing to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Russia]], the 14th edition was held online in 2020, and appears to be the last one held, {{as of|2022|lc=yes}}.<ref name=zerkaloabout>{{cite web | title=About | website=Zerkalo  | url=http://en.zerkalo.space/about | access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref> The festival awards a number of prizes, including the Special Award for Contribution to Andrei Tarkovsky's Cinema.<ref name=festagent/><ref>{{official website|http://en.zerkalo.space/| Official website}} (English version).</ref> Held in [[Ivanovo]] since 2007,<ref>{{cite web | title=Zerkalo Film Festival in Ivanovo |website= Russia-InfoCentre | url=http://russia-ic.com/tags/Zerkalo%20Film%20Festival%20in%20Ivanovo | language=en | access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref> the festival is held in July each year, with the 16th edition scheduled for 22–27 July, to be held in various cities in the Ivanovo region, with special screenings in Moscow. Films from France, India, Greece, Serbia, Colombia, Kazakhstan and other countries were entered into the competition, and a gala night was dedicated to Tarkovsky's 90th birthday, on the main square of his hometown of [[Yuryevets, Ivanovo Oblast|Yuryevets]] on 22 July.<ref>{{cite web | title=International Tarkovsky Festival Dates Announced | website=News Unrolled | date=29 June 2022 | url=https://newsunrolled.com/entertainment/47729.html | access-date=7 September 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[European art cinema]]
* [[Slow cinema]]
* [[Moscow International Film Festival]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last= Alexander-Garrett |first= Layla |year= 2011 |title= Andrei Tarkovsky: A Photographic Chronicle of the Making of The Sacrifice |publisher= Cygnnet |url= http://www.cygnnet.co.uk/books/?id=4 |isbn= 978-09-570-4160-8 |language= en, ru |url-status= usurped |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121112052431/http://www.cygnnet.co.uk/books/?id=4 |archive-date= 12 November 2012}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dunne |first=Nathan |year=2008 |title=Tarkovsky |publisher=Black Dog Publishing |isbn=978-1-906155-04-9 |url-access= registration |url=https://archive.org/details/tarkovsky0000unse}}
* {{cite book |last=Elmanovitš |first=Tatjana |year=1980 |title=Ajapeegel. Andrei Tarkovski filmid |publisher=Eesti Raamat |language=et}}
* {{Cite book |first=John |last=Gianvito |title= Andrei Tarkovsky: Interviews |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year= 2006 |title-link= Conversations with Filmmakers Series |isbn=978-1-57806-220-1}}
* {{Cite book |last1= Johnston |first1= Vida T. |last2=Petrie |first2=Graham |year=1997 |title=[[The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue]] |publisher=Indiana Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-253-20887-3 |location=Bloomington}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Jónsson |first1=Gunnlaugur A. |last2=Óttarsson |first2=Thorkell Á. |year=2006 |title=Through the Mirror: Reflections on the Films of Andrei Tarkovsky |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Press |isbn=978-1-904303-11-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Le Fanu |first=Mark |year=1987 |title=The Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky |publisher=British Film Institute}}
* {{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Sean |year=2005 |title=Andrei Tarkovsky |publisher=Pocket Essentials |isbn=978-1-904048-49-7}}
* Schmidt, Stefan W. (2016). "Somatography and Film: Nostalgia as Haunting Memory Shown in Tarkovsky's ''Nostalghia''." ''Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology'', 3 (1): 27–41. [https://doi.org/10.1080/20539320.2016.1187856 Somatography and Film: Nostalgia as Haunting Memory Shown in Tarkovsky's Nostalghia].
* {{cite journal |last=Slevin |first=Tom |year=2010 |title=Existence, Ethics and Death in Andrei Tarkovsky's cinema: the cultural philosophy of ''Solaris'' |journal=Film International |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=49–62|doi=10.1386/fiin.8.2.49 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Tarkovsky Jr. |editor1-first=Andrey A. |editor2-last=Schlegel |editor2-first=Hans-Joachim |editor3-last=Schirmer |editor3-first=Lothar |title=Andrey Tarkovsky: Films, Stills, Polaroids & Writings |date=2012 |publisher=Schirmer/Mosel |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-8296-0627-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tarkovsky |first=Andrei |year=1989 |title=Sculpting in Time |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-77624-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Tejeda |first=Carlos |year=2010 |title=Andrei Tarkovski |publisher=Cátedra, Madrid |url=https://catedra.com/libro.php?codigo_comercial=195082 |isbn=978-84-376-2666-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Turovskaya |first=Maya |year=1991 |title=7½ ili Filmõ Andreya Tarkovskovo |publisher=Iskusstvo |language=ru}}
* {{Cite journal |title=Dossier Andrei Tarkovsky |journal=Revue NUNC |volume=11, 2006 |publisher=Editions de Corlevour}}
{{Refend}}

===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|last1=Moore|first1=Cerwyn|date=2009|title=Tracing the Russian Hermeneutic: Reflections on Tarkovsky's Cinematic Poetics and Global Politics|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40645258|journal=Alternatives: Global, Local, Political|volume=34|issue=1|pages=59–84|doi=10.1177/030437540903400104|jstor=40645258|s2cid=143836755|url-access=subscription}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Andrey Tarkovsky}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{Sfdb name}}
* [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/tarkovsky/ Andrei Tarkovsky] at [[Senses of Cinema]]
* [http://www.andrei-tarkovsky.com/ Website about Andrei Tarkovsky, Films, Articles, Interviews]
* [http://rbth.com/literature/2014/11/26/andrei_tarkovsky_biography_wrestles_with_the_filmmakers_remarkable_41717.html Andrei Tarkovsky: Biography wrestles with the filmmaker's remarkable life]
* [http://www.nostalghia.com/index.html Nostalghia.com - An Andrei Tarkovsky Information Site], at Film Studies Program in the Department of Communication and Culture, [[University of Calgary]]
* ''[https://en.168.am/2016/02/27/2786.html A.Tarkovsky's Days in Armenia]''

{{Andrei Tarkovsky}}
{{Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award}}
{{Modernism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarkovsky, Andrei}}
[[Category:Andrei Tarkovsky| ]]
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Academic staff of High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors]]
[[Category:Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery]]
[[Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners]]
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in France]]
[[Category:Directors of Golden Lion winners]]
[[Category:Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography alumni]]
[[Category:Russian pacifists]]
[[Category:People from Kostroma Oblast]]
[[Category:People's Artists of the RSFSR]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic people]]
[[Category:Russian science fiction film directors]]
[[Category:Soviet diarists]]
[[Category:Soviet documentary film directors]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to France]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to Italy]]
[[Category:Soviet film directors]]
[[Category:Soviet male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Soviet non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Soviet opera directors]]
[[Category:Soviet people of Polish descent]]
[[Category:Soviet people of Romanian descent]]
[[Category:Soviet screenwriters]]
[[Category:Writers from Kostroma Oblast]]
[[Category:Directors of Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award winners]]